Ultimate Action
by RAGGEDY G
Summary: The unthinkable has finally happened: Spock is dying, and McCoy has the chance to have one last conversation with his friend...


"Dammit, Spock!"

The doctor's second most-used phrase echoed off the slimy cavern walls.

A low moan was the only response.

"If Jim was here, he'd have a royal fit…"

"Correction, Doctor," the Vulcan rasped, dulled eyes sparking for a moment, "were Jim here, he would have been the one to sacrifice

his body for the ship – and he would have died."

The limited surroundings gave McCoy little to work with in the endeavor to save the first officer's life, and he searched the cavern with his gaze for a fifth time.

"Damn, Spock. Why did you have to do it?"

The Vulcan coughed - a spray of green blood covered the doctor's forearms.

"I do not know, Leonard."

The medical officer paused his ministrations to answer his own question.

"Well, of course you did it to save the Enterprise, Spock. I just wish you'd stop being so heroic."

The sound of cloth tearing was loud in the absolute silence.

"Doctor, I do not understand."

McCoy snapped the remaining thread keeping the length of cloth tied to his uniform and gently propped his crewmate upright.

"Well, every time you and Jim get heroic, I end up with blood up to my elbows trying to patch you u-"

"-No, Doctor. I do not understand why I sacrificed myself."

"To save the Enterprise." McCoy repeated as he looked towards the mouth of the cave where their rescuers would surely appear.

…If they appeared.

Spock shook his head feebly against the doctor's steady hands.

"Leonard, there are over four hundred people on the Enterprise," the Vulcan choked, "– I could have ordered any one of them to absorb that blast, yet I did not…"

A cough interrupted Spock's pained outburst.

"…Defying all logic, I instead sacrificed the only science officer, whose role might have been indispensable after the explosion had detonated… I am – Illogical."

McCoy pushed his comrade back down. Had the situation not been so grave, he would have rolled his eyes at the Vulcan's obsession with logic; instead, he observed his friend's distress with a pained look.

The doctor pulled another length from his quickly shrinking uniform to bind the Vulcan's torn arm.

Spock's breath halted for a moment as the binding tightened.

"Why?"

Again the doctor looked towards the empty tunnel. His patient was bleeding badly – if Scotty didn't locate them soon, even the Vulcan's

hearty physiology – so often cursed – could not hold out.

"Well, Spock," McCoy answered, pressing the edge of his hand into his friend's bicep and cutting off the blood flow, "You did what you

did because you love the crew. That's not illogical."

"-It _is _illogical as I do not experience the emotion of 'love'."

The doctor's eyebrows arched and he rocked back on his heels, blue eyes wide.

"Love isn't an emotion, Spock!"

The response was an equally startled look from the Vulcan, and another hacking cough.

"Explain, doctor."

"Well, it's an action," McCoy said, moving his attention to his patient's broken leg, "there are feelings, of course, like when two people are in love…but that's an _attraction."_

"-You seem to indicate that all married individuals are merely experiencing attraction…"

McCoy slid Spock's boot off as gently as possible. The motion was still rewarded with a stifled moan.

"Sorry. No, let me explain it better. Here's how it is. Sometimes you really piss me off."

The classic eyebrow raise greeted the remark as the Vulcan expressed shock.

No signs of rescue from the ship.

McCoy wasn't finished with his proclamation.

"…Sometimes, I get so tired of your logic and your attitude that I want to rip your ears off and make you eat them."

The doctor tied off the last tourniquet and sat back. There was nothing more he could do; their survival now rested on the plucky Scotsman orbiting above them.

"I am sorry, Doctor. I only regret that you did not inform me of this fault sooner so that I could correct my behavior _before _I died-"

"-Spock, let me finish!" McCoy interrupted, his voice cracking unbidden, "You piss me off, and I don't _feel _like being your friend. But Spock…"

His voice cracked again as the sudden realization hit him - these might be the last words he ever said to his friend.

The Vulcan lay in complete silence, his dark eyes lacking any expression.

His voice husky now, the doctor struggled on.

"…Love can't be a feeling because if it was, every time you make me angry I'd just give up on you. If I didn't _feel _like you were worth my time, I'd forget it."

There was a green pool between them now, both of them reflected in its emerald shine.

"…But when you _don't feel_ like it and you do what's best for the other person anyway. That's real love."

Spock's pale face became translucent as the blood left his skin.

"…And that's what you did for the ship today."

There was cold pressure on McCoy's arm as his friend reached upward.

"Perhaps you're right, Leonard."

"I am."

So they lay there in the cave, spattered with green blood and dirt. And that's just how Scotty found them.


End file.
